Historically, wide area network/local area network (“WAN/LAN”) network functions or functionality have been performed by dedicated hardware in a network interface device (“NID”) or gateway device that is located at the customer location or customer premises. The NID or gateway device comprises a user network interface (“UNI”), which is in essence the demarcation point for the service. Maintaining dedicated NID or gateway deployments requires both firmware and software upgrades, but yields no “bump in the wire” or platform capabilities, and has diminishing value as new services and features emerge that the NID or gateway device cannot support.
Hence, there is a need for more robust and scalable solutions for implementing network enhanced gateway functionality, and, in particular embodiments, to methods, systems, apparatus, and computer software for implementing network enhanced gateway functionality using network functions virtualization (“NFV”) and/or software defined networks (“SDNs”).